Well the U.S. Basketball team announced the squad that it will be taking to Beijing this summer for the Olympics, and looking at the roster, if this team doesn't manage to win the gold medal, they shouldn't be allowed back into the country.
Look at this roster.
Kobe Bryant
LeBron James
Dwyane Wade
Carmelo Anthony
Chris Paul
Dwight Howard
Deron Williams
Tayshaun Prince
Jason Kidd
Chris Bosh
Carlos Boozer
Michael Redd
I would like to see one more big on the roster (feel free to replace Kidd, the team already has four guys capable of handling the ball), but with the overall talent it probably won't matter much. I realize that the teams the U.S. will be playing against in China keep getting better, and that they've beaten us before, but there's no excuse for this team to lose.
I don't want to hear about how the other countries teams have played together longer, or about the different rules in FIBA, there is just too much talent on this team for anything but a gold medal to be the objective.
Boston Celtics 97 Cleveland Cavaliers 92 (Celtics win series 4-3)
The score says the Celtics beat the Cavs on Sunday, but for the most part, yesterday's game seven was a two-player battle between Paul Pierce and LeBron James. There were eight other guys on the court, but really, they were all just extras.
Luckily for Pierce and the Celtics, the extras points counted as well, as he lost the head-to-head matchup with LeBron by only scoring 41 points. LeBron had 45, and though he led a late charge to get Cleveland back in the game, he missed a couple of key shots in the closing seconds, and lost a race to a big loose ball that Pierce ended up with.
"I had it going, LeBron had it going and we just didn't let up," Pierce said. "Neither one of us wanted our teams to lose."
All in all, a pretty good game seven. I don't know if it's an all-time classic, unless you're a Celtics fan, but it was a lot better than most of the games in this series. Boston now moves on to face Detroit, game one is on Tuesday, but if they don't figure out how to win on the road I don't think they're going to beat the Pistons.
As I promised in the Diaries this morning, here's the video of LeBron's dunk last night. I'm not quite sure why Kevin Harlan would say LeBron had no regard for human life.
Cleveland Cavaliers 88 Boston Celtics 77 (Series tied 2-2)
LeBron James can do it all. If you need him to put your team on his back in the fourth quarter, he can do that. If you need him to distribute the ball to his teammates, he can do that as well, as he handed out 13 assists last night. If you need him to deliver an emphatic dunk on Kevin Garnett, he can do that, and did in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter (I'm currently looking for video).
And most importantly, if you need someone who knows when and how to put his mother in her place, LeBron can do that. Which he did during the second quarter when she started saying something to Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce after a hard foul. It was though he'd forgotten that Mother's Day was but 24 hours beforehand when he told her to "Sit down and shut up."
"I told her to sit down, in some language I shouldn't have used," James said. "Thank God today wasn't Mother's Day. All I could think about is her. ... I know my mother. It's fine, we're good."
Doesn't this all seem familiar, though? No, not the stuff about LeBron's mom, but James struggling in the first two games of a playoff series, then going home and getting back on track. Last year he did the same thing against a heavily favored Pistons team, and now he's doing it against the heavily favored Celtics. The Pistons were good at home, the Celtics are good at home.
If he goes and scores Cleveland's last 25 points in game five to get the Cavs the win, the NBA would probably be better served to hire new writers.
I remember growing up and watching Michael Jordan get the hell knocked out of him constantly during the playoffs. First it was the Detroit Pistons and the "Jordan Rules" which were basically, anytime Jordan gets in the lane, try and kill him. How many times would you see Bill Laimbeer or Dennis Rodman body check MJ out of mid-air? How many times would you see Isiah Thomas try and undercut him?
It was constant, and it didn't end with the Pistons. Once the Bulls conquered Detroit, it became the Knicks who would apply the same tactics against Jordan. I didn't like that other teams were deliberately trying to hurt him, but you could understand the reasoning behind it.
You weren't going to stop him, so you might as well try to hurt him. Luckily for Bulls fans, all any of it did was piss Jordan off, and considering Michael was already the most competitive person on the court, pissing him off only made him more dangerous.
You know what I don't remember as much from all those series? Flagrant fouls being called. There were a few in the most egregious cases, but for the most part, the refs let it go. The league let opponents try and take out it's marquee player.
That's not the case these days.
The one thing that's been driving me nuts this postseason in the NBA is the constant flagrant foul calls. It seems you can't touch anybody anymore. Right now if LeBron James goes to the hole and catches an elbow in the chest, whoever delivered that elbow is going to get a flagrant called on him.
One of the worst cases I've seen came last night when Al Horford was called for a flagrant foul on Kevin Garnett. As Garnett went to the basket, Horford committed a good clean, hard foul. He didn't go after his head, instead he used his left arm against KG's chest to stop him, and with his right arm he swiped at the ball.
Garnett fell to the floor afterwards, despite Horford's effort to hold him up, because generally when two guys who are 6'10 or taller collide in mid-air, somebody is going down. Horford was then hit with the flagrant.
It was a bad call.
I use it as an example, but it's not the only one I've seen.
I understand that the NBA is in a constant battle against ill-informed "fans" who claim that the league is full of nothing but a bunch of thugs and gang-bangers, and that they have to make sure their corporate sponsors still want to fill the arenas and commercial breaks with advertisements (though those same corporate sponsors don't have a problem sponsoring the NFL where the goal is to beat your opponent into submission, wonder why that is?). I also understand that it's a superstar driven league, so the league is going to take extra precautions to protect its superstars, but it's getting ridiculous.
These are the playoffs, and throughout the history of the NBA, the playoffs get a lot more physical. It's a large part of what makes the NBA playoffs so exciting. Now I'm in no way condoning fights amongst the players, and I understand that the constant use of the flagrant fouls helps keep some fights from happening, but the NBA is playing scared.
By trying to cut off all physical play, the NBA is actually taking away a large part of what makes the playoffs so exciting, and it could end up hurting them more in the long run than a few punches ever could.
I don't know if much is going to be different for the White Sox this season compared to last year. I really don't see them competing with the Indians and Tigers and I'm not sure they're going to finish over .500.
Now I have proof my fears are well-founded. Baseball Prospectus released their PECOTA projections last week, and they predict that the White Sox are going to finish in third place in the division with a 77-85.
I realize that a lot of you are probably thinking that it doesn't matter what a bunch of nerds and their computers say, the teams still have to play the games.
I thought the same exact thing last season. After a World Series title in 2005, and a 90-win season in 2006, I figured the Sox were going to win the AL Central again last year. When I saw BP's PECOTA projection for the team last season, I laughed when they said the White Sox would go 72-90.
Then six months later, one of the most frustrating seasons I ever had as a White Sox fan came to a conclusion, and their record was 72-90.
Needless to say, I respect the nerds and their computers a bit more this season.
There is good news, though. Over the weekend at FanHouse, I wrote about Ozzie's pledge to get back to being the Guillen of old, and not be so laid back and concerned about the negative media attention.
"I don't give a [expletive] what people think about me,'' Guillen said. ''I win 200 games in two years, and nobody ever mentions that. Well, if you're not going to give me credit when the team wins ... that made me think, 'Wow, what kind of life are we living?' My team wins 200 games, I didn't have a losing season, and they treat me that way.
''Then if you're a nice guy, they are going to treat you the same way. [Expletive] it, be an asshole then. I would rather be an asshole winning than be a nice guy [expletive] losing. Give me an asshole who can win, don't give me a nice guy who can [expletive] lose.''
In picking apart the 2007 White Sox, plenty of things went wrong. A popular knock among the critics is this team that had been known for thriving with a chip on its shoulder suddenly was too nice.
''They're right,'' Guillen said. ''You cover this ballclub last year, you say, 'Wow, what a nice team to cover.' No, it's not fun to cover a team like that. Well, it's not fun to [expletive] manage a team like that, either.
''We stunk last year.''
...
''You know what's funny? When you're on the hot seat and you tell your boss how horse [crap] you are,'' Guillen recalled of his private chats with Williams. ''And you tell your boss, 'Hey, man, I should do this different. It's my fault, I let this team go too far.'
''I let stuff go too far. And then when I put my foot down, it was like, whoa, it's the end of the world. People were saying, 'Aw, that's just Ozzie being Ozzie.' Bull [crap]. I hate the phrase. That's exactly the way I am.''
...
'I go to other cities and I have [reporters] coming over just to see what Stupid is going to say,'' Guillen said. ''You don't think I don't know that? I know that. We go to someplace like Anaheim or Seattle or even in Chicago, they want to know what he is going to say. Hey, at least you're there. If you want to know something about me, [expletive] ask me.
''Do you know how many times I've gotten in trouble with Kenny because I'm honest with people? But, meanwhile, Kenny has to understand I have to face [the media] every day.
''If my [stuff] sells papers every day and we win, well, I want to be on the front page every day,'' Guillen said. ''As long as I don't rape anybody, as long a I pay my taxes, I don't beat my wife ... if I am going to be on the front page of the newspaper because of [expletive] baseball, I will take that.
''If more people treat baseball the way I treat baseball, this [expletive] game will be better.''
They haven't even played a spring training game yet! What's going to happen come the first week in April when Gavin Floyd is giving up 8 earned runs in 1.2 innings of work?
I know a lot of people can't stand Ozzie and the way he acts, but I'm not one of them. I love it. I'm tired of hearing the same crap from managers and players all the time. To hear Guillen opine on things is refreshing. Now that doesn't mean I agree with everything Ozzie says. In truth, we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things. (For instance, I don't think Jay Mariotti is gay, I just think he's a douchebag.)
Still, it's because of Ozzie that I'm actually looking forward to this season on the south side. After all, I get paid by the post over at FanHouse, and I get the feeling Ozzie is going to buy me a whole lot of things this season.
Foul Balls
Ryan Newman Won The Daytona 500 - It's a bit of a February tradition for me. There is no more football being played, and baseball is still over a month away, so I find myself watching NASCAR on Sundays. In particular, the Daytona 500.
I can't help it. My dad has been a NASCAR fan since way before it was cool to be one (though you could argue it still isn't cool to be one), and I used to watch the races with him as a kid. So yesterday I found myself watching the sports premier event for four hours.
I enjoyed it too. I always do.
Ryan Newman won, which pissed me off because I placed a $10 bet before the race on Kyle Busch, which was paying 15/1 odds. Busch led 86 of the 200 laps, more than twice as many laps as any other driver, but he didn't win the damn thing. Newman led only 8 laps, but of course, he led the most important one.
I'll be watching next week too, and every Sunday until baseball season starts. Then, like every year, I'll forget all about it until next February when it starts all over again. LeBron's Monster Dunk - Earlier in The Basketball Diaries, I mentioned LeBron James' dunk over the entire Western Conference in last night's All-Star Game. I may have embellished a bit. He didn't dunk over the entire Western Conference, but he did dunk over four of the five players they had on the court at the time, with Dirk Nowitzki getting the worst of it.
Anyway, here's video proof of it. I know how you kids like the moving pictures more than the halcyon word.
You know, I don't much care about the NBA All Star game. The only part of the festivities I ever really enjoy are the dunk and (to a lesser degree) three-point contests. After witnessing Dwight Howard's performance in the dunk contest on Saturday night, I knew nothing could happen in the actual All-Star Game that would compare, so I didn't watch. Still, I bet I can tell you what happened. The best basketball players in the country did a whole bunch of crazy shit. There were a lot of alley-oops, highlight dunks, and no defense whatsoever. Am I right? I know that LeBron scored 27 points for the East, two of which came in the final minute when he dunked on the entire Western Conference, and was named MVP. James also had 8 rebounds and 9 assists.
Well, his girlfriend had the baby anyway, but who do you think is going to be paying for those diapers? Not his girlfriend.
At 12:15 AM this morning, LeBron's second son was born, Bryce Maximus James. I'm a little upset with James about this, because Bryce Maximus was what I was going to name my son. Here I am thinking I'm original, and now I find out I'm so original that LeBron James had to go and rip me off.
Where are all my witnesses?
Will this have any effect on tonight's Game 4? Not unless Bryce can hit a wide-open jump shot, it won't.
It's good for LeBron that he'll have something to celebrate, because I get the feeling his season will end tonight.
I've always maintained that there's nothing more exciting in basketball than blown layup after blown layup. Yeah, it may have been close in the end, but it was ugly. The Spurs and Cavs combined to tie for the second lowest scoring game in NBA Finals history on Tuesday night as San Antonio just about finished Cleveland. Tony Parker had 17 points, Tim Duncan only had 14, and Manu Ginobili only had 3, yet the Spurs still won. LeBron finished with 25 and a legitimate beef. He was fouled by Bruce Bowen on that last shot, and he should have been given three free throws. So Cleveland fans have a right to bitch this morning, but if LeBron couldn't make layups at the end, why should we think he'd have hit all three free throws?
Don't let that score fool you, except for a few minutes in the 4th quarter when the Cavs made a run, this game was a blowout. San Antonio jumped ahead early, and just kept building their lead. The Cavs came up with a new philosophy against Tony Parker, and it worked so well he ended up with 30 points. Tim Duncan had 23 points, and Manu Ginobili had 25. If there's any good news for Cleveland, it is the fact they showed some life in the final quarter. They outscored San Antonio 30-14, but of course it only got them within eleven. Most people will say they're done, but they were down 2-0 to Detroit too. The difference is that even though they lost the first two against Detroit as well, at least they were competitive in those games. They haven't been in this series.
Considering all the waiting we had to do, I was hoping for a little bit more than 14 points. I'm sure the NBA was as well. Unfortunately, the Spurs do not care about me, or the NBA. They only care about winning, and that's what they did last night. Maybe they had a week off, but I couldn't really tell by watching them play. Tim Duncan had 24 and 13, while Tony Parker scored 27 points with 7 assists. The Spurs also held LeBron to 4-of-16 shooting, and only the aforementioned 14 points. "We did a very good job on LeBron, not giving him the lanes that he's used to," Duncan said. "It takes five guys understanding what we're doing, understanding a game plan and sticking with it."
Actually, judging by the ratings the last two series got, I think only some of us are witnesses.
This commercial hasn't hit the airwaves yet - it's scheduled to tonight on Sportscenter - but I got it thanks to Dan Benton over at The Fanhouse. That's some great defense by Tayshaun Prince, isn't it? I believe they call it the "Oh Shit I'm About To Be On A Poster" defense.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to the NBA Finals thanks to some rookie most people had probably never heard of a week ago. Daniel "Boobie" Gibson went off yesterday, scoring 31 points while only taking nine shots. Gibson was 5-5 from behind the three point line and scored 19 of his points in the fourth quarter to bury the Pistons. "If I'm dreaming, please don't wake me up," Gibson said. "This was perfect, to win it for Cleveland." LeBron had an "off" game with only 20 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists. He only made 3 of the 11 shots he took, but made 14 free throws. The Pistons actually played the right defense against him in this game, but for once the rest of the Cavs stepped up and won a game. It's the first time in the 37 year history of the franchise that the Cavaliers will be going to the NBA Finals, and I hope their fans enjoyed last night's win, because I don't think they'll have much to celebrate against the Spurs.
In case you missed it or just wanna relive the "holy Jesus, I cannot believe my eyes did he just do what I thought he did?" performance of LeBron James in the Cavs/Pistons game last night, here's a taste.
I feel sorry for anybody who swore off the NBA playoffs after the Robert Horry/Steve Nash incident, or the Eastern Conference in general, because they missed what could have been the best game of the playoffs on Thursday night. It was in large part due to the best playoff performance I've seen by a single player since some guy named Jordan was pushing off on Byron Russell. LeBron James scored 29 of the Cavaliers last 30 points. Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored for the Cavs with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and they were the last points a Cavalier would score who didn't wear the number 23. James finished with 48 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists to give Cleveland a huge Game 5 victory as they head home to Cleveland looking to finish off the Pistons. Seriously, it was something to watch. For your sake, I hope you did. It should be noted though, that this series isn't over yet. The Cavs had a 3-2 edge on the Pistons going back home last season, and Detroit won Games 6 and 7.
Say what you want about the Eastern Conference, and the talent level, but every game in this series has come down to the last few possessions. LeBron and the Cavs evened it up at two games apiece thanks to King James performance in the fourth quarter. LeBron had 13 of his 25 points in the final period to make sure the Cavs held on to their lead. "I told my teammates, 'Get me to the fourth and it's close, and I'll try my best to win," James said. He also got some help from his teammates as Drew Gooden chipped in 19, and Daniel Gibson dropped 21. It's the second straight game Gibson has performed well, and Larry Hughes could be in danger of losing his job in the starting lineup.
I'll say this about this series so far, both games have been pretty ugly, but at least they've both come down to the closing seconds. Just like in Game 1, LeBron had a chance to win this game. The difference was after he drove the lane this time, he actually took the shot...and missed. "I believe there was some contact, but there's been a lot of contact throughout this series," James said. "We're a no-excuse team and we can't look at the last play as why we lost. We just have to get better." Larry Hughes got the rebound and had a wide open seven-footer, and missed it. The Cavs only managed to score 26 points in the entire second half as they watched a 12-point halftime lead disappear. LeBron had 19 points and that's not a good thing because he's never won a playoff game in which he's scored 20 points or less.
This video first hit the blogosphere yesterday, but I didn't see it until just now so it's new to me.
If you're like me and countless number of other Americans, you've often wondered, "Man, that LeBron James sure is a good basketball player, but can he sing and dance to the BeeGees?"
The answer is a resounding "No!"
But that didn't stop him from shooting this video for American Idol. No idea what they're using it for there since I'd rather die by kicks to the groin than watch the show, but here it is.
Apparently the Grizzlies figured out that letting Kobe score 60 against them is not the best way to go about beating the Lakers. Tuesday night they held the Mamba to 23 points, and broke the Lakers hearts in the final minute. Some dude named Tarence Kinsey scored 5 points in the final minute to put the finishing touches on a Grizzlies win. Rudy Gay had a decent night with 20 and 12.
Cleveland Cavaliers 105 Indiana Pacers 94
LeBron started his day by kicking coach Mike Brown out of a team meeting, and finished it with 26 points, 7 boards, and 5 assists as the Cavs took care of the Paceless. The win pulls the Cavs to within 2 games of the East leading Pistons, and 1.5 games ahead of the greatest team ever. "This is my team, that's my responsibility to make sure everyone's on course," James said. "There can be a lot of distractions on a five-game road trip." He's right too. There isn't another city in this country that can match the majestic beauty and amazing nightlife of Indianapolis.
Dallas Mavericks 105 The NOOCH 89
The Hornets haven't beaten Dallas since 1999. Christ, that's 8 years, I'm getting so old. Anyway, the Hornets will have to wait until 2008 to get their next chance at them cuz the Mavs did what they do when they do what they do to the Hornets. Josh Howard had 25 and 10, Dirk fought off a tummy flu to score 15, and the Mavs finished their road trip 6-0. "It was really a fun trip, obviously. We're trying to work hard offensively moving the ball, and everybody's making shots," said Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 15 points while shaking off an illness. "It was a fun trip."
Maybe every team in the NBA should find a way to piss off Gilbert Arenas. Giving him a reason to seek revenge against you may be the only way to stop him. After struggling in Portland during one of his "revenge games," Gil went to Seattle where he has no beef. He then went out and scored 42 points, including a runner at the buzzer that gave the Wiz a victory over the Sonics. Gotta feel bad for the Sonics Chris Wilcox though, the guy goes out and scores 27 points while grabbing 22 rebounds, and his team doesn't even win. That's gotta hurt.
Dallas Mavericks 98 Cleveland Cavaliers 90
Here's the difference between the Mavs and the Cavs. Both Dirk and LeBron struggled during the game, but Dirk actually has other good players on his team, and those teammates picked up his slack to give Cleveland it's second straight loss following their 9-game win streak. "That's why we are a great team, because other guys stepped up when we needed them," said Nowitzki.
Los Angeles Clippers 104 Milwaukee Bucks 103
Who the hell is this Jason Hart? The guy gets cut by the Kings last week, the Clippers pick him up and insert him into the starting lineup, and now dude is hitting game-winning jumpers. Hart's shot with 3 seconds left bounced around the rim a couple of times before dropping in, and the Clips got their second straight road win. There's some question as to whether or not Elton Brand may have tipped it in, but Hart isn't about to share any of the credit. "He didn't tip it," Hart said. "It was right there. It was clear as day. If he had tipped it, the way they were calling the game, they would have called a no-basket. The high flyers, they know not to tip the ball around because of the chance it is going to be goaltending." Hart was heard later crying to himself in the shower, "I'm the man. I'm the man."
Well the U.S. Basketball team announced the squad that it will be taking to Beijing this summer for the Olympics, and looking at the roster, if this team doesn't manage to win the gold medal, they shouldn't be allowed back into the country.
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